Astronomy and Planetary Science Thread

Would not be surprising that the Solar System had two or more giant planets Michel Van, I had heard years ago that the Solar system also would have had at least two super Earths as well that sadly got kicked out when Jupiter had one of it's many journeys into the inner Solar System.
 
A short video about the Lich system which consists of a pulsar and three planets orbiting it:


The first exoplanet ever discovered, the fastest exoplanet, the oldest exoplanet, and the most extreme exoplanets in the universe can all be found around pulsars. But how do they form? What causes pulsar planets to be so extreme? These are the questions I'll be answering in this video.
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Second episode of the Halcyon planets series:


When the Sun becomes a red giant, it will destroy Mercury, Venus, and Earth. After that, it will become a white dwarf.But what happens next? When will the Sun become a white dwarf? Will Earth be destroyed? Can planets exist around white dwarfs?This is the 2nd episode of my Halcyonic Systems series, where I talk about planets around white dwarfs.​
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Here's a couple more interesting videos from Kyplanet:


Ice giants are some of the most interesting categories of planet we've ever seen, and there are multiple types, from mini-neptunes to hycean planets. But what are these planets like? Have we found any hycean planets? And could hycean planets have life?
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Lava planets like 55 Cancri e, or Janssen, are pretty strange in their own right, but some of them may be the exposed cores of planets that used to be gas or ice giants.
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LINK TO STUDY: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.16421
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Here's a video from New Scientists concerning the KT extinction event:


Dinosaurs are the biggest creatures to have ever walked on land, dominating Earth for over 130 million years. But how could such extraordinary creatures have simply vanished in the blink of a geological eye? For decades, we've assumed these prehistoric megafauna – a staple of our childhoods and Hollywood movies – went extinct for one simple reason: the asteroid that hit Earth was so unimaginably large that it changed everything in one single blow. But now, thanks to new research, an even more intriguing idea has emerged: size alone doesn't explain what happened.​
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The real reason the impact was so devastating may have been its angle. Had the asteroid arrived a little steeper, the outcome might have been different. A little shallower, different again. And for life on Earth at the time, predominantly dinosaurs on land, marine creatures in the sea and pterosaurs in the air, it appears to have struck at almost the worst possible angle imaginable, launching vast quantities of rock, dust and climate-altering gases high into the atmosphere and triggering one of the greatest mass extinctions in Earth's history.​
00:00 Introduction
02:30 The Mystery Before The Asteroid
10:05 This Asteroid Changed Everything
0:13 The World After Dinosaurs
23:24 Creating The Amazon
27:56 The Asteroid Was Just The Beginning
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New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...q=https://www.newscientist.com/&v=WbiIrV6Bq64
#palaeontology #dinosaur #dinosaurextinction #prehistoriclife #jurassicworld #science
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Astronomers discover a brand-new type of astrophysical object: A black hole star

Astronomers have discovered a “black hole star,” an extremely bright red spot in the early universe that appears to be a new type of astrophysical object.
It resembles an enormous star, but its energy production is closer to what a black hole might generate.
This finding could help solve the identity of other mysterious “little red dots” that have appeared in nearly every deep space image NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken to date.
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Anton Petrov is reporting some exciting new discoveries concerning Pluto and Charon:


Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about Pluto and Charon
Links:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4155...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...com/articles/s41550-025-02573-z&v=yUEByXK8C34
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev.../article/10.3847/PSJ/ae6cdd/pdf&v=yUEByXK8C34
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4155...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...com/articles/s41550-025-02573-z&v=yUEByXK8C34
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...com/articles/s41467-024-51826-4&v=yUEByXK8C34
#pluto #charon #solarsystem
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/solarsystem

0:00 Pluto updates
1:20 Haze hypothesis proven
4:45 Seasonal change and atmospheric freezing
7:20 Penitentes and the bladed terrain
9:10 Geologically alive and water inside
10:55 Charon's atmospheric discoveries and internal ices
12:20 Conclusions
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Black Hole "Blast" Reaches 300,000 Light Years

A team of researchers has discovered that the winds generated by supermassive black holes are 100 times more powerful than previously thought, carrying energy across distances of approximately 300,000 light-years. The discovery demonstrates that these explosive winds impact the vast expanse of space beyond the galaxies they inhabit.
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Sad news about Europa's ocean Flyaway, I had thought that it would only be a couple of kilometres thick in places at least but it seems that it is much thicker that previously thought.
 
Anton Petrov has a report out about a very strangely shaped asteroid:


Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about 44 Nysa asteroid and other unusual asteroids
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Links:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.25786https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ttps://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.25786&v=SSccNV39mCU
800M year old impact: • Why This 800 Million Year Old Impact Disco... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhsrk6xfLI&pp=0gcJCR0AztywvtLA
#asteroid #44nysa #nysahttps://www.youtube.com/hashtag/nysa
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0:00 Strange new asteroid findings
1:30 44 Nysa asteroid is very bizarre
2:20 How our perspective changed - rubble piles and mergers
5:10 Snowmen asteroids
6:10 New discovery from Nysa
7:30 New observations and new shapes
8:30 It even has a moon
9:00 Explanations and implications
13:28 Conclusions
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Katalyst Space successfully uploaded a flight software update for its LINK spacecraft, which is set to boost NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher orbit. The software update’s new attitude control algorithms are designed to maintain LINK’s stability using the spacecraft’s remaining actuators.

The team’s work has prepared LINK to continue its approach toward Swift, before attempting to capture and raise Swift to a higher orbital altitude. Katalyst will continue to work closely with NASA, evaluating LINK’s performance at each phase, as the team performs a series of burns and maneuvers in the coming days to align LINK’s orbit with Swift.

In the meantime, the Swift team continues with its innovative new approach to operating the observatory, which has successfully reduced drag and slowed Swift’s orbital decay. Swift is currently at an altitude of about 216 miles (347 kilometers). An orbit-raising maneuver would become more difficult below an average altitude of about 185 miles (300 kilometers).
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https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swif...oost-spacecraft-prepares-to-continue-mission/
 
Hubble & Gaia solve our galaxy's merger mystery

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, grew to its current size in part by consuming smaller galaxies. Now, new data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show definitive evidence of a dwarf galaxy merging with the young Milky Way galaxy in the earliest phases of its evolution. This finding extends our knowledge of our galaxy’s history 1.8 billion years farther back in time than before.
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Did a passing rogue-planet help trigger the Permo-Triassic extinction event 252 million years ago? From Anton Petrov:


Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about the biggest extinction event on Earth
Links:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.17105https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ttps://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.17105&v=LCS_Q--pJ1U
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...org/doi/10.1126/science.ado2030&v=LCS_Q--pJ1U
Other videos: • Scientists Just Realized Neptune May Not A...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRoU3whzX_Q
• "Godzilla" El Niño May Have Begun, Here's ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRoU3whzX_Q

#extinction #earth #solarsystem

0:00 Earth extinctions events
1:20 Biggest extinction on Earth and what caused it
3:30 Other explanations?
4:10 What about dwarf planets?
5:30 Possibility of a flyby and its effects
7:30 Fossil record from Devonian
8:10 But...no evidence though and other explanations
9:20 Conclusions
10:20 Implications for sciences
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Milky Way's fastest star orbits our supermassive black hole so closely it feels its spin

Astronomers have discovered the fastest known star in our galaxy, the Milky Way, orbiting the black hole at its centre. The star, named S301, was detected with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI) and reaches speeds of 25 000 km/s as it travels around the four-million-Solar-mass black hole. It comes closer to it than any other observed before, so close that it feels the effects of the black hole’s rotation.
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Here's a video about of the impending mega-quake on the Pacific Northwest (It's a matter of when not if it happens):


A “megaquake” is coming to the Pacific Northwest, and it could be a double whammy.

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Oregon is sitting on a ticking time bomb. Scientists are warning that pressure is building, and we’re not ready for the megaquake that’s coming. In this video, we’ll investigate what scientists' predictions say. What will really happen, and when?

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0:00 The Big One
1:41 Cascadia Subduction Zone
3:03 How Do Earthquakes Work?
6:10 Double Whammy
8:40 The Last Megaquake
10:33 Neskowin Ghost Forest
13:13 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami
15:50 Orphan Tsunami
20:28 Unpredictable Behaviour
22:22 When Will It Happen?
24:43 Predicting the Big One
26:33 A Tsunami Is Coming
28:25 Tsunami Evacuation Towers
30:57 How to Prepare

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References:
“Odds Are 1-in-3 Huge Quake Will Hit Northwest in Next 50 Years”, via oregonstate.edu https://astrumspace.info/cascadia
“Pacific Northwest Counties Prepare for The Big One”, via naco.org https://astrumspace.info/naco
“The Really Big One”, via newyorker.com https://astrumspace.info/bigone
“Flood Risk in Pacific Northwest Is Increasing”, via openaccessgovernment.org https://astrumspace.info/pnwflood
“Unravelling the Dance of Earthquakes”, via geoscienceworld.org https://astrumspace.info/eqsync
“Dating the 1700 Cascadia Earthquake”, via researchgate.net https://astrumspace.info/1700cascadia
“Evidence for Great Holocene Earthquakes”, via asu.edu https://astrumspace.info/holquakes
“Time and Size of a Giant Earthquake in Cascadia”, via nature.com https://astrumspace.info/gianteq
“The 'M9' Project”, via washington.edu https://astrumspace.info/m9project
“Celebrating Nation’s First Tsunami Vertical Evacuation Tower”, via wa.gov https://astrumspace.info/evactower


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Credits:Narrator: James Stewart
Writer: Milla Harrison
Video Editor: Finlay Yates
Animator: Peter Sheppard
Researcher: Shourya Shrivastava
Script Editor: Damaris McColgan
Thumbnail Designers: Peter Sheppard, Juane Dames
Publishing Lead: Georgina Brenner
Production Coordinator: Rose Unwin
Edit Producer: Poppy Pinnock
Producers: Alex McColgan, James Stewart
Head of Astrum: Jess Jordan
Creator of Astrum: Alex McColgan

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https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/astrumearth
#AstrumEarth #Astrum #Megaquake
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Some recent studies indicate that the Milky-Way galaxy has been a lot more violent in the past as it evolved, from Anton Petrov:


Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about the Milky Way galaxy discoveries
Links:
https://theconversation.com/the-milky...
https://academic.oup.com/mnras/articl...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...8/2/stag563/8537783?login=false&v=t95URmICwQM
https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/rese...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ne-effect-heating-our-milky-way&v=t95URmICwQM
https://www.mpg.de/18466080/history-o...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...e/18466080/history-of-milky-way&v=t95URmICwQM
Previous video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua5ymXflH7Q&pp=0gcJCR0AztywvtLA
• Milky Way Past Collisions Present a New Su... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua5ymXflH7Q&pp=0gcJCR0AztywvtLA

#milkyway #galaxy #sciencehttps://www.youtube.com/hashtag/science
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t95URmICwQM
0:00 Milky Way updates
1:09 Gaia data changed everything
1:50 What we thought before
2:20 Disc started to form earlier than thought
3:25 Gaia Sausage collision was a lot more complex
4:35 Loki leftovers
5:35 Hot/Cold sides of the galaxy
7:00 Overall history of the Milky Way
10:28 Conclusions and what's next?
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Following continued monitoring and assessment of the LINK spacecraft, Katalyst Space and NASA together have concluded that due to ongoing attitude control issues, the mission will not include the capture and boost of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.

This does not mean LINK’s mission is over. The Katalyst team will continue making the most of LINK’s capability and time on orbit. Our focus is on conducting rendezvous and proximity operations where possible and exercising the spacecraft to gather as much data as we can.

While the mission will not have the ending we originally intended, NASA and Katalyst are assessing what milestones remain ahead. We will continue working to extract technical and operational value from the spacecraft.

Ghonhee Lee, CEO of Katalyst Space said, “Katalyst designed, developed, and launched an experimental spacecraft to go after an ambitious mission on an aggressive timeline. We took on this high-risk, high-reward challenge and are proud of the milestones we reached along the way. We have already learned a tremendous amount, and now our job is to turn those lessons into something durable—building a repeatable playbook to inform future rendezvous and proximity operations and satellite servicing."

The Swift boost mission is an unprecedented demonstration of commercial and government partnership: tackling critical space challenges on an expedited timeline. We are proud of the work the team has accomplished so far and will continue putting LINK to work in the time ahead.
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https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kata...-assessment-activity-7495902428203106304-XCTP

Due to an ongoing commercial spacecraft attitude control issue, NASA and Katalyst Space announced Wednesday the LINK spacecraft will not capture or boost an agency satellite to a higher altitude to extend its science mission as planned. However, LINK still will attempt to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to demonstrate key capabilities for the future of space exploration.

“NASA should be willing to move quickly and take smart risks when the potential return is worth it, and that is exactly what we did with this mission,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting. The team moved with extraordinary speed to give Swift a chance to carry out more science while advancing capabilities America will need for satellite servicing in the future. We are going to learn everything we can from LINK’s rendezvous attempt and put those lessons to work on the missions that follow.”

NASA and Katalyst are working closely to assess next steps for rendezvous and gather as much data as possible to inform future satellite servicing operations.

“We knew this was a high-risk, high-reward mission – a first-of-its kind attempt, developed on an unprecedented timeline driven by the Sun’s activity,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We were all hoping for more science from Swift. But we knew the takeaways from this mission would be worthwhile either way, and we have gained so much through the series of accomplishments up to this point.”

Without intervention, NASA anticipates Swift is likely to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere later this year. As part of the agency’s previous planning for Swift’s end of life, NASA will continue to prioritize finding new options to react rapidly to cosmic events, using current missions to help fill the gap in the meantime.

“Building, testing, and operating this mission has already strengthened America’s space industry pipeline, advancing in-space servicing capabilities in completely new ways,” Domagal-Goldman said. “NASA is committed to supporting our commercial vendors as they take on difficult tasks with the agency, to push the boundaries of what’s possible. We’re so proud of this team for: getting to the launch pad in record time, in a record-setting year for NASA astrophysics launches; its innovative problem-solving up to this point; and the dedication to the exciting capabilities this mission will attempt to demonstrate next.”

Swift was launched in 2004 to study gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, and other cosmic objects and events. It was designed for a two-year prime mission. After 21 years of science operations, Swift’s low Earth orbit began to rapidly decay because of increased solar activity. NASA used this opportunity to advance U.S. spacecraft servicing technology, awarding a contract to Katalyst in September 2025 to mount a robotic servicing mission for Swift in less than a year.

The LINK spacecraft launched July 3 on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean. Teams established communications with LINK and conducted in-orbit checkouts over the following weeks, before the spacecraft experienced attitude control issues.

Learn more from Katalyst, and monitor NASA’s Swift blog for continued updates throughout rendezvous: 
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https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/
 
Hera's Mars flyby guided impact study of Deimos moon

A new study – guided by flyby images from ESA’s Hera asteroid mission – suggests that Mars’s small outer moon Deimos has been dramatically reshaped by a single violent asteroid impact. This would account for its mysteriously smooth and youthful face: a thick layer of dust from the impact may have served as the planetary equivalent of cosmetic fillers.
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Why on earth is NASA just giving up on docking with and reboosting Swift?
 
FighterJock said:
How much did the Swift project cost?
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I did some looking around with Google and according to what I found the Swift satellite cost $US250 million in 2004 to build and launch. The Swift reboot mission costed $US30 million which is a bargain.
 

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